Shareholders Seek Removal of Duke Board Members

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System and the New York City Pension Funds are urging fellow shareholders in Duke Energy not re-elect four members of the company’s regulatory policy and operations committee at the May 1 annual meeting.

The four directors — G. Alex Bernhardt Sr., James B. Hyler Jr., James T. Rhodes and Carlos Saladrigas — “have failed to fulfill their obligations of risk oversight as members of a committee overseeing health, safety, and environmental compliance at the company,” a letter filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission said.

About 39,000 tons of ash spilled from a pond at a shuttered coal-fired power plant near Eden, North Carolina Feb. 2, triggering investigations and subpoenas. The incident, the third-largest coal-ash spill in the U., coated 70 miles of the Dan River.

A federal grand jury is probing the state’s oversight of the company’s 33 coal-ash ponds in North Carolina.